The past two weeks have been full of transition and change after my beloved CrossFit gym shuttered its doors. Our coach was hired on at a much larger gym nearby, so most of the old gym’s members have migrated to Miramont North to follow him.

It has been an enormous change, moving from Yeti Cave CrossFit’s small “box” to a sprawling corporate gym. We’re all still adjusting to the new, less intimate vibe.

However, the positive aspects are difficult to ignore. Miramont offers longer hours, free coffee, a spinning studio, a wide arrays of group classes and many other amenities we never had access to before.

The new gym also boasts the largest indoor rock wall in northern Colorado, apparently.

My friend Stef and I took advantage of their Sunday special: women climb for free, including equipment rentals, from 1:30-2:30pm.

I have flirted with indoor bouldering once or twice before, years ago. Any hopes that my CrossFit training would automatically jump me up a few levels were dashed immediately. It’s a different skill entirely, and in many ways a different set of muscles.

I may not be a natural, but any time I can try new things and face some fears it’s a win. I hope I can regularly work a bit of bouldering into my schedule, if only to wear down that pesky, sweat-inducing fear of heights that dogs me. (In the photo below, I felt as though I were dangling from the top of the Empire State Building.)

P.S. Stef planned to take her kids to the gym’s daycare; when it turned out to be closed, she brought her twins to the rock wall. It was the right call. The gym had shoes more or less in the kids’ sizes, and they tore around that gym like they were born for it. I loved watching Stef — who is strong and incredibly athletic — teach her kids how to climb and fall and think through routes.